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If you're like most of the world - or at least most of Midwestern Americans - you're going to spend today either finishing up at work before taking the weekend or travelling to and from your various Christmas celebrations. For the small sliver of you that work in retail, I feel like my heartfelt condolences are appropriate. For the rest of you, allow me to dance like a trained monkey throw out some Xavier stats for your entertainment.
Since last year's Shootout, here's what Xavier looks like against KenPom top 100 teams:
| Date | Opponent | Result | Location | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2/18/15 | (34) Cincinnati | W, 59-57 | Away | 1-0 |
| 2/21/15 | (20) Butler | W, 73-56 | Home | 2-0 |
| 2/23/15 | (49) St. John's | L, 58-57 | Away | 2-1 |
| 2/28/15 | (6) Villanova | L, 78-66 | Home | 2-2 |
| 3/7/15 | (85) Creighton | W, 74-73 | Away | 3-2 |
| 3/12/15 | (20) Butler | W, 67-61 (OT) | Neutral | 4-2 |
| 3/13/15 | (24) Georgetown | W, 65-63 | Neutral | 5-2 |
| 3/14/15 | (6) Villanova | L, 69-52 | Neutral | 5-3 |
| 3/19/15 | (50) Mississippi | W, 76-57 | Neutral | 6-3 |
| 3/21/15 | (64) Georgia St. | W, 75-67 | Neutral | 7-3 |
| 3/26/15 | (2) Arizona | L, 68-60 | Neutral | 7-4 |
| 11/20/15 | (33) Michigan | W, 86-70 | Away | 8-4 |
| 11/26/15 | (89) Alabama | W, 64-45 | Neutral | 9-4 |
| 11/27/15 | (34) USC | W, 87-77 | Neutral | 10-4 |
| 11/29/15 | (43) Dayton | W, 90-61 | Neutral | 11-4 |
| 12/12/15 | (22) Cincinnati | W, 65-55 | Home | 12-4 |
Sure, the cutoff is kind of arbitrary, but look at those numbers. Against good competition, all Xavier did was go 2-1 at home, 7-2 at neutral sites, and 3-1 on the road for a 12-4 overall record. Even against top 50 teams Xavier is 9-4 during that time. Just something to throw out there the next time some clown from the Fayetteville Observer writes a salty game recap taking a bunch of shots at the Xavier program.
Moving on...
Coach Mack mentioned that after the UC game he pointed out to Edmond Sumner that he was rebounding about how Dee Davis did. Since that game - and with the caveat that single-game Reb% numbers can be a little slippery - Ed has posted DReb%s of 37.5% against Auburn and 23.0% against Wake. So he basically flipped a switch and went from Dee Davis to James Farr on the glass.
Just for fun, let's call extra possessions offensive rebounds + steals - turnovers. I'm sure most of you can see the logic here, but it's basically a very rough tally of things a player can do to earn (or cost) his team an additional chance to attempt a shot. Here's what that looks like in table form:
| Player | ORB | STL | TOV | Extra Poss |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Farr | 38 | 9 | 8 | 39 |
| Jalen Reynolds | 29 | 14 | 18 | 25 |
| J.P. Macura | 14 | 9 | 9 | 14 |
| Myles Davis | 10 | 12 | 11 | 11 |
| Trevon Bluiett | 19 | 10 | 21 | 8 |
| Kaiser Gates | 7 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| Sean O'Mara | 6 | 3 | 7 | 2 |
| Makinde London | 3 | 3 | 7 | -1 |
| Larry Austin | 1 | 7 | 12 | -4 |
| Remy Abell | 4 | 8 | 17 | -5 |
| Edmond Sumner | 8 | 11 | 31 | -12 |
Obviously offensive boards are the most common way to get extra possessions, so good offensive rebounders dominate. Interestingly, if you sort it by extra possessions per minute played, Kaiser Gates jumps to second. I'm not sure exactly what the means, but the guy is obviously doing some things right.
Trevon Bluiett currently leads the team in minutes percentage (i.e., the percentage of all the minutes the team has played that he has been on the court) at 76.2%. The last time Xavier's team leader had a mark that low was BJ Raymond's 75.4% in the 08-09 season.
James Farr is 14th in the nation in win shares per 40 minutes. I'm all about some advanced stats, but the formula for win shares is a hair arcane even for me. Despite that, I'm going to go ahead and say it's cool that James is doing well in it.
Have a Merry Christmas, everyone.